Nevada fish is the first species slated for protection in new Trump term
Sadie Harley
scientific editor
Andrew Zinin
lead editor
A lithium mine could contribute to the extinction of a fish species in southwestern Nevada, the federal government acknowledged on May 20 in a document recommending its protection.
The Fish Lake Valley tui chub is the first species to get a positive recommendation for Endangered Species Act listing under the second Trump administration.
"Water use for lithium mining will likely exacerbate the already over-allocated Fish Lake Valley groundwater basin that supplies water for tui chub habitat," the proposal said, pointing to geothermal energy development and farming as additional water stressors in the region.
The species is endemic to a system of springs in Esmeralda County, the least populated county in Nevada, where fewer than 1,000 people live. All but one of those springs has dried up because of agricultural pumping, and the environmental advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity estimates the remaining spring has receded by more than 50%.
"The Fish Lake Valley tui chub is barely clinging to existence," said Patrick Donnelly, the center's Great Basin director, in a statement. "Nevada has already lost so many native fish species. We can't afford any more extinction."
Ioneer, an Australian company, is building a lithium-boron mine at Rhyolite Ridge that could stand to further strain already limited water resources. A company representative did not immediately provide comment on Tuesday.
In the first months of the new administration, Trump officials have floated redefining whether habitat degradation can be legally considered "harm"—something environmentalists have decried as an attempt to weaken the Endangered Species Act in favor of industry interests such as logging and oil drilling.
The act, signed into law in 1973 by Republican President Richard Nixon, is the basis for how the federal government directs its efforts to rehabilitate species on the path to extinction. Some species have been delisted over the years because numbers were restored, such as the American bald eagle and the American alligator.
Starting May 21, the Fish and Wildlife Service will accept written comments on the proposal, and the agency will later finalize it.
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